Recently in Doughnuts Category

As hesitant as I am to link to anything from FoxNews, I can't help but share Shephard Smith's horror at this concoction, which came from a bar owner in Georgia who had run out of hamburger buns, so he just started slipping his cheeseburgers (with bacon, no less!) in between the halves of a Krispy Kreme donut. But maybe we can help to fund healthcare reform by slapping a big tax on these, seeing as how they are a one-way ticket to the cardiologist.

Spent the Labor Day weekend being a tourist in our own city. Took the girls swimming, to Navy Pier and to dinner at Quartino.

Why Quartino? It's comfortably loud and thus, kid-friendly. The pomodoro sauce has been deemed by the 4-year-old to be the best in the city. The assortment of noshes (veal meatballs, broccoli rabe) always pleases her parents to no end. And -- the doughnuts.

We almost passed up dessert, thinking we'd grab ice cream elsewhere on our way back to the hotel, but the server eyed our two munchkins and offered up the magical word: "Zeppole?"

Airy and tender, they melted -- literally melted -- in the mouth. Heck, they nearly melted on our fingers as we gently pried them apart. As if eating them piecemeal was going to make them last longer. (Did we mention the ramekin of warm, dark chocolate dipping sauce?)

Enough with the cupcakes. Let's hear it for fried dough.

Luckily, Rick Bayless has thrown down the gauntlet in today's Food pages, promising his churros at Xoco, his new takeout shop -- perhaps you've heard of it? -- to be the best in the world.

We admit: Since we were stuck at the office, we Twitter-stalked Xoco for a good portion of its opening day yesterday. Thank goodness for WaitWatcher and the chef himself for letting us know just how quickly (or not) the line moved.

Anyway, we'll get there soon enough. We're just tickled that fried dough is getting Top Chef treatment. Churros and zeppole -- different animals. But as far as we're concerned, all part of one big, happy family.

Well-heeled fashionistas will no doubt descend on 15 E. Oak on April 16 for the opening of the new Barneys New York store. Foodies might also want to drop by (not that the two groups are mutually exclusive but one group tends to be a little more, shall we say, disciplined when it comes to stuffing one's piehole).

But why Barney's, you ask? Because from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., the store will offer champagne and doughnuts to visitors! And not just any doughnuts. Mindy Segal doughnuts -- 3,000 brioche doughnuts, according to Jill Katz, who's handling publicity for the event.

The store initially wanted to go with a local caterer but Katz and her team "quickly guided them in another route" -- namely, in the direction of James Beard Award-nominated pastry chef Segal.

Don't know what the new black is in the fashion world, but in our world, doughnuts are the new cupcake.

The Barneys event is open to the public.